| | Obama to open entire Mall for inauguration
 The entire length of the National Mall will be open during President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration for the first time in history to accommodate the million-plus people expected to travel to Washington next month, the inaugural committee announced Thursday.
Officials predict anywhere between 1.5 million and 4 million people will travel to Washington to see the nation's first black president take the oath of office.
Members of the House and Senate are allotted between 200 and 400 inaugural tickets each to distribute to constituents, but demand this year is massively outpacing that supply.
The National Mall, which covers the 2-mile long stretch from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, will be outfitted with large screens and speakers for people unable to obtain tickets to the swearing-in. In previous years, the Mall has been used as a staging area for inauguration participants and was not open to the general public.
"We're grateful to local, federal, and military officials for their efforts to open up the National Mall to Americans who want to participate in this historic occasion," inaugural committee executive director Emmett S. Beliveau said in a news release. "These arrangements represent our committee's continuing commitment to make next year's historic inauguration as accessible as possible to citizens in Washington, D.C., and across the country."
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has launched a Web site with further details about the inauguration.
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